Textile machinery for fiber preparation



05:. 20, 1925. 1,558,414 M. THOMA TEXTILE MACHINERY FOR FIBER PREPARATION Filed May 21. 1924 Patented Oct. 20,1925. J

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TEXTILE MACHINERYFOR FIBER PREPARATION.

Application filed H8121,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MEINRAD Chrome, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at Torgasse 2, Zurich, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in Textile Machinery for Fiber reparation, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

With certain textile machinery used in the fiber preparation, such as openers, scutchers, cotton carding engines and the like, it is es sential that a separation of the dirt and mote from the fibers is veffected simultaneously with a deviation of the air.

The hitherto known arrangements utilized to this end for instance, with carding engines in which a conventional knife of triangular cross-section cooperates with a feed-roller, the table, the licker-in and the grid for the purpose of separating or removing impurities,- such as motes, shale, husks, broken seeds and the like, presents the drawback that a comparatively large quantity of good fibers fit for spinning areremoved and get mixed with the proper waste, whereby they are lost for further treatment; this loss is quite considerable.

In consequence of-the necessity to place the edge of the knife verynear (approximately at a distance of 10/1000") to the licker-in in order to remove all the impurities from the mass of fibers the fol-ldwing draw-backs have presented themselves in practice: The considerable quantity of air, which is carried along with the licker-in'and to which a rotary motion isimparted, is projected against thesurface of the knife remote from the licker in, as the clearance of 10/1000" between the cutting edge ofthe knife and the lickerl is too small to admit I passage to the whole quantity of air rotatand the whirls diminish only by degrees with an increased distance from the lickerin whereupon-the air. flows to the waste chamber. At the rear of the knife a partial vacuum is present so that part of the 1924. Serial No. 714,885.

deviated air flows around the lower edge of the knife and along its surface to the intake I of the grid. The abrupt deviation of the air around the lower edge of the knife causes further whirls, so that the air flowing to the intakev of the grid has-no uniform flow but is in a state of continuous whirling in'the space behind the knife. The narrower'the profile ofthe knife is the more intense is the upward flow of the air to the intake of the grid, and it has been observed that short bits of fibers, dust and light impurities, which have been removed by the edge of the knife and the removal of which is absolutely necessary in order to obtain a good product, are again carried by the air to the intake of the grid and thus contaminate again the fibrous material.

In order to overcome this drawback it has already been proposed in the German Letters Patent No. 286043 to increase considerably the width of the knife inorder to decrease the strength of theair current passing around the lower edge of the knife so that the separated impurities are not again returned into-the working process; the con templated action. to return the loosened fibers is however, not reached without re-' turning at the same time the separated impurities consisting of dust and short fibers.-

With all the hitherto known knives and arrangements an undesirable separation of fibers at the edge of the knife can only be avoided by increasing the clearance between knife and licker-in, for instance to 3040/1000", in order to decrease the whirling of the air, as in this case nearly the total quantity of air rotating with the licker in can pass between the edge of the knife and the circumference of the licker-in, so that theimpact of the air on'the lateral face of the knife is much smaller and the intensity ofthe whirling is diminished; However, the disadvantage presents itself that the removal of the impurities at the knife edge is not sufficient; the linings'of the cylinder, of the flats and of the doifer are too quickly blocked up with short fibers, motes, leaves and the like andthe intensity .of the carding. action is thereby considerably reduced and the quality of the treated fibers is also impaired.

Furthermore to the adjustment of the knife relatively to the licker-in and of the direction of the air current involved thereby as disclosed in the British Letters Patent 7 No. 14521 of 1902 the above mentioned drawbacks are inherent as a diminution of the whirling of the air obtained by a suitable adjustment of the knife influences unfavorably the intensity of the cleaning, as the adjustment ofthe knife causes an increase of' the clearance between the knife edge and the 'licker-in for the purpose of obtaining an intense cleaning action in connection with a complete avoidance of the air whirls which have a separating effecton the fibrous material.

The working faces of the plate and particularly the face. along which the air flows when moving away from the licker-in are preferably formed as parabolas which can be calculated from the constant speed of the licker-in and from the quantity of air dragged along by the licker-in, which quantity may also be taken to be constant, these two known terms permit the calculation of the parabola. It is considered superfluous to state here the mathematical deduction by which the formula for the parabola is derived.

A constructional example of the subject matter of the present invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 20f the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a portion .of acarding engine with the licker-in arrangement in a vertical section and Fig. 2 shows on an enlarged scale a vertical section of a part of the hcker-in arrangement proper together With the deviating blade.

Referring now to the illustrated constructional example V denotes the licker-in, Z is the feed device, P is the deviating plate wh1ch is pivoted in a known manner to a support T, and R designates the intake of the grid- The support T is mounted in the englne frame and is adjustable in the vertical and in the horizontal direction by means of the. screw threaded spindles E and E. All, the other parts of the carding engine do not differ from the conventional construe-- .tlon andv it is therefore not deemed neces-'. v sary -to describethem in detail; Fig. 2

shows on a larger scale the shape of, the profile of the deviating plateP, the working faces, i. e. the lateral face-and the lower face from 4 to 7, along which the. air flows, are substantially formed by two parabolas joining together and having the foci F and F respectively, and being accurately determined by taking into consideration the quantity and the speed, these parabolas correspond to the natural stream lines of the air coming from the licker-in. The upper portion of the lateral face is so arranged relatively to the licker-in that the center M of the licker-in, the vertex S, thepoint ofintersection L of the directrix and the focus F are all situated'on a straight line, the part 4, 5 forming the parabola determined by F, L and S. The air carriedalong with the licker-in is not projected towards an opposing surface but it will glide gently and without the formationof whirls along the upper deviating face 4 5 and it will not cause the undesirable separation of useful fibers as has been the case by the whirls caused with the known arrangements.- Owing tothe adjustment of the knife edge of the deviating blade to a distance of 5/1000', from the circumference of the licker-in almost the total quantity of air is deviated, so that a partial vacuum is caused in the space behind the plate P. The size of the profile of the deviating plate is so chosen that itreaches into a zone in which the suction action produced by the intake R of the grid on the lowermost face 6 of the plate P is not very effective so that the flow of air along the lines 5 and c is exceedingly gentle. The bulk of the deviated air will flow off along the stream lines d and e and will conduct-the removed or separated impurities to a waste chamber arranged below the plate. The bulk of the air flowing tothe intake R of thegrid will 'move from nearer zones along the stream lines f and'g, a further portion of air, i. e. the air carried along with the linker-in and not deviated by the plate P, flows inthe direction a to the intake R.

The lower part of the working face of the plate P is-defined by a second parabola,

which causes the rising air currents b and c to separate by degrees from the currents indicated by d and e and to be uided past the lowermost p'ortionof the pfate P without the formation of whirls. F is the focus, S

is the vertex, and L is the point of intersec-" tion of the directrixes of this second parabola and the points M, F and S and L are situated on a straight line, thecurve 5, 6. 7

representing this second parabola to which t-he'above point-s belong. The focal distance of this parabola is smaller than that of the parabola 4, 5 owing to the smaller quantity of air and its velocity. the curvature of this natural stream line is therefore more abrupt.

()wing to the sharp adjustment of the deviating plate to the licker-in a very thor-. ough cleaning effect is obtained. The smallest impurities areintercepted and carried away whereby the clothingof the cylinder, of the flat and of the doifer are relieved and 4o i of the plate. If, for instance, the speed of space.

their life is prolonged. The removal of good fibers in consequence of the whirling of the air is totally excluded, as the air is led off along natural stream lines Without rents e and d occurs by degrees and the flow of the currents'b and 0 along the parabola is absolutely smooth. In consequence thereof only a small movement of air occurs in the space Y.(Fig"s. 1 and 2) situated between the plate P and the intake R of the grid and there will be no whirls generated in this made comparatively large, for instance 3 i. e. a dimension. which had never been obtained by known devices of this type. This large free space presents the advantage'that impurities of quite a small size, such as dust, grit and the like, which possess only a small adhesion to the clothing,

are removed by the centrifugal action of' the licker-in, a fact which further improves the quality of the product. With thehitherto known knives the size of the space Y was only very limited, as otherwise the whirls I would have had a larger area presented to them to act upon whereby the faulty separationofgood fiberswould have been increased. By means of the combination of the air deviating plate with a grid, the projecting inner end ofwhich has the form of a cusp or beak, the space Y may be further enlarged whereby the removal of smallimpurities is further increased.

.In case of a change of speed of the licker in and of the speed of air depending thereon and of the stream lines a compensation may be effected by achange of the adjustment the licker-in be increased, the focal distance of the parabolas must also beincrea'sed as in this case the natural stream line of the discharged air is more stretched. To this end the adjustment is so performed that the deviating plate is displaced ,by a small amount towards the right hand side (when' looking atFig. 1 or 2) and is turned about its fulcrum through a small angle in the anti-clockwise direction, which adjustment is an equivalent to an increase in the focal distance.

I claim:

1. In textile machinery, a device for removing impurities, particularly in openers, scutchers and carding engines, comprising .a licker-in andv a plate to deviatethe air and to act as a knife cooperating with the -licker-in, the profile of the plate having its working surfaces substantially defined by two parabolas joined to each other the focal distance and directrix of which are directly dependent on the discharged quantities of the air and the speeds of the air, so that the Therefore the distance 3 may be prolonged cusp-type.

moving impurities, comprising a licker-in,

and a plate to deviate the air and to act as a knife cooperating with the licker-in, the profile of the plat -increasing in thickness from a\knife edge at .one end to a well rounded portion at the other. end, and the length of the profile from the knife edge to the rounded end corresponding approximately to the. radius of the licker-in, so that it projects into a calm zone, the front part of the plate being approximately tangential to the circumference of the licker-in togently deviate the air along natural stream lines and avoid any whirls of air.

In textile machinery, a device for removing impurities, comprising a licker-in and a plate to deviate the air and to act as .a knife cooperating with the licker-in, the

projecting into a calm zone, the front part of the plate being approximately tangential till to the circumference of the lic-ker-in to gently 'deviate air along natural stream lines and avoid any whirls of the air, and means to adjust the plate in horizontal, vertical and angular directions so that a distance between the knife edge and the licker-in.

may be obtained of 5/100() of an inch, and the position of the plate may be adapted to conditions'due to a change of speed of the licker-in.

4. In textile machinery for fiber preparation, the combination of a licker-in with a plate to deviate the air and to act as a knife cooperating with the licker-in, the profile of the plate being substantially defined by two parabolaS joined to each other, the focal distance and directrix of which are directly dependent on the discharged quantities of air and the speed of the air, so that the air guided by the working surfaces flows along natural streamlines, means adapted to ad just the distance between the knife edge and the circumference of the licker-in to 5/1000 of an inch, and a licker-in grid'of a 5. In textile machinery for fiber preparation, the combination of a licker-in'with a plate adapted to deviate the air and to act as a knife cooperating with'the licker-in,

the profile of the plate being substantially ilefined by two parabolas joined to each thcr, the focal distance and directrix of which are directly dependent on the discharged quantities of air and the speeds of the air, so that the air guided by the working surfaces flows along natural stream lines, means to adiust the distance between the knife edge and the circumference of the licker-in to 5/1000 of an inch, and a lickerin'grid of a prolonged cusp-type, the intake of the licker-in grid being arranged at a distance from the knife plate that equals approximately the length of the profile of the plate to permit a separation of impurities by centrifugal action in the enlarged space between the intake of the grid and the knife plate. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

MEINRAD' THOMA. 

